


Not What I Planned At All

by Know_Your_Paradoxes



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Cutesy, F/F, Falling In Love, Female Homosexuality, Female-Centric, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Chris/Josh Washington, One Shot, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Past Tense, Post-Canon, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 17:15:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4928242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Know_Your_Paradoxes/pseuds/Know_Your_Paradoxes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Whatever's happening, better not be. I mean, between you and I. See, you have to understand, this isn't... this isn't supposed to happen."</p><p>After the events on the mountain, Sam and Ashley turned to each other's companionship in order to cope with their situations, but when they get closer than originally intended, Ashley begins to have second thoughts about herself, her relationship with Chris, and how willing she is to get even closer to Sam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not What I Planned At All

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! This is just going to be a cute, fluffy little one-shot with a whole lot of Sam/Ashley. (Because I'm Climbing Class trash and I want Sam and Ashley to be happy, and also I really like the idea of Sam being homoromantic because yes.)
> 
> So here, I hope you guys like it! (Until Dawn has lowkey ruined my entire life honestly.)

Ashley got the first call from Sam at about 6 in the morning a week after the events at the mountain.

She had never really been someone that people naturally turned to for comfort, but she wasn't about to leave a good friend of hers high and dry when they needed her most. Especially not when they had gone through something as traumatic as what both of them had gone through that day.

So, with eyes half open, Ashley got up and got ready for the day, before waiting a while until she was fully awake so she could go out to her car and get to Sam's.

The drive was calm, and mostly quiet. Ashley hadn't quite brought herself to turn on the radio since it happened. The media was still talking about it, it was everywhere. More and more, the police began revealing new things they found through their search of the mountain, yet no word on Josh. She didn't want to hear it. It was nothing that she already didn't know about that mountain. In fact, the police were still unaware of the real reasons behind what happened on that mountain. Ashley could care less what straws they tried to grab at when they were trying to piece together why there were 7 kids that blew up the lodge and keep rattling off dumb stories of some "monster" they called the wendigo.

Then they began trying to tie the events at the mountain to the prank with Hannah and Beth, which they still hadn't solved either. Ashley was done with trying to listen to them when they didn't even have any sufficient evidence to hold up their cases. They still believed that Josh was responsible.

She hated that she couldn't prove anything to them.

Ashley knew she had gotten at least three phone calls while she was driving up there, but she didn't answer any of them. She didn't even know who was calling her. She just knew that she wanted to get to Sam before she did anything to herself. Despite not really being the closest with her, Ashley had always felt like they were kindred spirits--two of a kind, almost.

When she got there, she turned her car off, got out, and locked it before rushing as fast as she could (making sure not to slip and fall on any ice) to Sam's door. She searched for the doorbell, and pressed the button twice.

She was very worried. She knew how badly Sam had taken Josh's disappearance. Sam had really cared about him. (Ashley still wasn't one-hundred percent on whether or not their situation was romantic or platonic, but she knew that either way, she still had felt a very strong emotional attachment to him.)

Sam answered, with red eyes and tear tracks visible. She stood in the doorway, frozen for a few seconds, before she snapped back into reality and said, stuttering, "S-Sorry, Ash. C-Come in, please." And with that, she stepped back to allow Ashley to enter, still holding the door open.

Ashley took her offer, and when Sam shut the door, she took off her jacket and hung it up on the coat rack. "Hey," she said, trying to smile a little, hoping that maybe a friendly face would help Sam get a little more calm. She saw Sam give her a sympathetic "thanks for trying, but that's not going to cut it" smile in return, and she cleared her throat before sitting on Sam's couch, leaving the middle cushion between them. "So, uh, why did you call me? You sounded really upset over the phone."

Sam shook her head, her chest heaving with a sob, as she nonchalantly brushed it off. "No, no, n-not at all. I-I-It was stupid of me to call you so early in the morning. I'm really sorry for waking you up so early. I just..." she let out a sigh, and Ashley saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"Sam, you don't have to lie to me. I know something's up. Is it about Josh?"

Ashley saw Sam give a slight nod, and she felt something in her heart twist. "It's okay to be upset. You don't have to apologize. I know that if I were in this situation, you would do the same for me. It's the least I could do. And don't worry about me getting up early. I left a note for Chris. Everything's alright. I'd much rather be here to help you out than be sleeping and have you here alone. Now, go ahead. Let it all out."

It was silent and still for a good solid second before Sam rested her head onto Ashley's shoulder and began to cry. It was the first time she had ever seen Sam cry, and there was probably a good reason for that. She never wanted to hear Sam cry ever again. It was one of the most heartbreaking sounds in the world.

Ashley, a bit flustered, simply put her hand onto Sam's head and patted it a few times, in an attempt to be comforting. It didn't seem to affect Sam, so she assumed that it actually wasn't really a bad thing. "I'm glad that you called. Now keep letting it out. It's better than keeping it in." And Sam heeded her advice, until finally, after what seemed like hours on end, she stopped and moved her head away from Ashley's shoulder.

"Thank you," Sam said, wiping the tear trails away from her face. "I really needed that. It... it's been really hard the past few days, knowing that Josh is stuck in that Hell and nobody's going to do anything about it, you know?"

Ashley nodded. "I wish that we would've thought to have went back down there to try and save him. I miss him so much. I know that what he did was something terrible, and I'll never fully forgive him for putting me and Chris through that, or you, but... he didn't mean to hurt any of us... right?"

"No, he never would've wanted to hurt any of us. At least, not deliberately. We meant a lot to him, even though some of us were part of the reason his sisters disappeared. We were his friends, Ash. And... and I thought that maybe... I just..." Sam sighed before continuing, "I thought that we were connected. Honestly. I thought that we shared something. But now I guess that me and Chris kind of have the most in common after what happened to them, huh?" She managed a fake laugh, keeping a straight face the entire time.

Ashley was confused by that. Did she mean because they had both lost their best friends? Sam lost Hannah, and Chris lost Josh, and they were both dead (or at least, in Hannah's case, since she had been one of the wendigos that they had burned up in the lodge), or worse, both of them were wendigos (which may very likely have become Josh's fate, as far as Ashley had known). She wanted to cry, knowing that Chris had never shown her any form of sadness over Josh. She decided that he was still in shock over what happened to him.

"Yeah, I understand how you feel. It... it hurts knowing that all of these important people in our lives were lost in such a horrible way, but... Josh and Hannah and Beth would have wanted us to remember them the way they were before all of this happened, right? They'd want us to look back at what we did together and smile. They'd want us to only remember the good things from our pasts. You know?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, it's just... it's hard to do that after being up there and seeing all that hell myself. I miss them so much, but... I can't... I can't NOT associate Hannah with one of those monsters. I can't NOT hear Beth's name and not think about how she was eaten and rotting away. I can't NOT mention Josh without seeing that mask and being reminded of the shit we went through. It's so hard to get out of my head. I'm sure I'll be able to get through this and remember the good things eventually, but right now, it's much too early after everything to be able to remember anything but that."

Ashley pursed her lips and closed her eyes. She hated how sad Sam sounded. "I know. Just... try not to think about it anymore while I'm here, alright?"

When Ashley opened her eyes again, she saw Sam staring at her. She had never noticed how beautiful Sam's eyes were until that moment. Sam was a very beautiful girl, that was obvious, but she had never paid attention to her eyes before. They were raw and emotional, and conveyed almost everything and anything that Sam was feeling. The old saying about the eyes being the 'windows to the soul' was true, when it was being said about Sam. Ashley felt her chest expand as she took in a sharp breath. Sam's eyes didn't break away from hers as she said, "Alright."

It was just one word, but it felt like a promise.

\----------

The next call came almost a month later, in the afternoon.

Ashley picked up, despite Chris's protests (they had been in the middle of a romantic moment). "Hello?" she asked, as she normally did. She knew that it was Sam, but she hadn't thought that she might have been calling her for any other reason than just to catch up.

There were heavy sobs coming from the other end of the line. "Ashley? I-I just... I heard what happened. They sent police down there to check in the mines, like I told them to, and... and none of them have been found. Oh God, Ash, I think... I think Josh is one of them." Sam's voice was very hushed, like she was whispering a secret that only Ashley could know.

Chris tapped Ashley on the shoulder as he asked, with evident concern in his voice, "H-Hey, Ash? What's wrong?"

She shook her head slightly as she answered him, in a low voice, with a slight shakiness in her tone as she began to feel tears forming. "None of the police they've sent into the mines have come out. Josh was the only one trapped down there. We killed all the other wendigos on the mountain."

She turned her head to look at Chris, and he sat frozen for a good long while. "Y-You're kidding, right?" he asked. "You can't be serious."

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she shook her head again.

"No, you're lying to me! Josh isn't one of those monsters! He can't be! H-H-He would never EAT another PERSON! There's no way you can possibly be telling me the truth right now!"

"Chris, please don't--"

"NO!" he yelled, standing up. "T-This is fucking INSANE! There's... no..." His words became much more weak as he continued, eventually being reduced to fighting off tears, rocking back and forth on the couch cushion beside Ashley.

Sam's voice rang from the other end of the line. "I'm so sorry, Chris. I know how it feels to--"

"NO, YOU DON'T!" he screamed again, this time, mixed with his heaving sobs. "You have NO FUCKING IDEA! He was my BEST FRIEND, and... a-and I... Oh my God, no, this can't be happening."

"Chris, please, just listen to me, I lost--"

"FUCK YOU! THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU! YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" Ashley felt like she was seeing a completely different person than the one she had started living with after what happened on the mountain. He paused for a second before returning to his quiet, sad tone. "I... I told you guys we needed to go back down there and find him, a-and now..."

Sam was silent. So was Ashley. The only sound was the sound of Chris's crying.

Ashley didn't know what to think. She turned the phone off of speaker and pressed it back to her ear. "Sorry about that, Sam," she said, with a sad sigh. She tried to put her arm around Chris, but he shrugged her away and turned his body to the opposite side.

"No, no," Sam replied. "I understand completely. Josh... he meant a lot to him."

Ashley tried to listen for any other cryptic undertones in Sam's voice, and they were pretty heavy once she got to the words "he meant a lot to him". What exactly was Sam trying to say to her? She didn't understand why she would be acting so weird. Yes, Ashley knew that Josh and Chris were best friends, that was the most obvious thing ever. You could see it no matter how much you tried not to. It was abundantly clear that Josh and Chris had been very close friends. And yes, losing him would definitely hit Chris harder than the others. Especially losing him this way.

Ever since the events on the mountain, Chris had been acting strangely. He wasn't affectionate towards her. He would tell her he was going out to talk with his psychologist about things. (Ashley had remembered him mentioning the name "Dr. Hill" on a few occasions.) But when he came home, he wouldn't talk to her about how his meetings went.

She had tried to get him to talk about it (she knew that forcing him wasn't a good idea, but she didn't seem like she had any other choice), but he refused to tell her anything.

After Sam had talked to her for a little longer (Ashley didn't remember the rest of the conversation, all she knew was that it was a lot of other things about Josh and the investigations up on the mountain), they hung up, and she directed her attention back to Chris, who was still shaking and rocking back and forth, with the occasional deep breath to try and catch the air he had lost through crying. "Chris, I'm so sorry. I tried to get them to agree with you, but none of them wanted to go back. If I would've known, I SWEAR that I would've went with you personally to try and find him."

Chris's voice was low and hushed, like he was telling her a deep, dark secret. "Well, you didn't, Ash. It's too late now."

And after that, Chris told her he had to go somewhere, leaving her alone in the house to wonder what she had said wrong.

\----------

Late that night, Ashley visited Sam again. Chris hadn't come home since he had left after the phone call, and she was worried sick. She knocked on Sam's door at maybe 2:30 in the morning, doing her best to warm herself up, since the chilly breeze around her was beginning to pierce through the warmth of her jacket.

Sam answered after just three knocks. "Ashley? What's going on?"

The wind stung her face on the tracks of tears that had ran down it as she shook her head. "Please, Sam, just let me in."

Sam didn't question her, and allowed her inside without another word. Ashley headed straight for the couch, sitting down as she rubbed her arms with her hands, in another attempt to warm herself. "Chris hasn't come home. He left after you called, and he hasn't come back. I called his cell phone like 20 times, but there wasn't an answer either. Sam, I'm scared that he went back to the mountain."

She saw Sam's eyes widen slowly. "Oh my God," she said, in a low whisper. "I think he might have."

Ashley felt another burst of tears beginning, and she tried to hold them back, but wasn't able to. She put her head onto Sam's shoulder, and Sam did her best to provide some form of comfort or consolidation by rubbing her hair and talking to her. "Chris is one of the bravest people I've ever met, did you know that? And you know what I think? I think he's going to be fine. He managed to make it through a night of Hell on Earth, and I know that if that's where he went, he'll be able to find Josh."

There was something very powerful and uplifting in these words to Ashley. She was glad that Sam knew how to deal with this kind of thing. She had never been the type of friend that people went to when they were looking for someone to comfort them.

Gratitude. There was nothing but gratitude in Ashley's heart for Sam at that moment. She felt a smile creep onto her face and closed her eyes, letting the remaining tears fall until there was nothing left. When she pulled herself away from Sam's shoulder, she looked into her eyes... and her hair... and her smile...

Honestly, she didn't know what had come over her.

When their lips met, it was a strange feeling. Ashley didn't know if she liked it or not. It was a lot of things, all at once, and there were no words that she could think of to even begin to describe what it felt like. She had never done something so impulsively in her lifetime. She wasn't this type of person. She loved Chris very dearly, and would have given anything for him to be safe, and at home.

But for some reason, after whatever it was that compelled her to kiss Sam did its work, she didn't feel like she belonged there with him.

After a good while, Ashley pulled away, feeling her face get warm as she looked away from Sam's eyes. "I-I'm so sorry, Sam, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just... I don't know what happened to me, it was like... it was this impulse or something."

Sam nodded. "I understand. You miss Chris. I miss Beth. We all miss a lot of things. Chris misses Josh."

At the time, Ashley didn't have it in her to put two and two together. She had never thought about the possibility that maybe Sam had been in love with Beth before. The thought had never crossed her mind, because she had never really been too close with Sam. Sure, Sam had been there a lot, when Chris and Josh hung out or when Chris and Sam had hung out, but they had never really talked much. Sam was one of those people that Ashley knew because she was in the same circle of friends, although she had never really been one of those people she knew very well.

She sighed before resting her head back on Sam's shoulder as she apologized. "I honestly... I just... I'm... I'm scared.

"Okay," she said, with a slight sigh. "Whatever's happening, better not be. I mean, between you and I. See, you have to understand, this isn't... this isn't supposed to happen."

She hung her head a bit, blushing. "Honestly, Ash, it's fine. I don't mind, really," Sam tried to reassure her. She put a hand on Ashley's shoulder, only for Ashley to shake it off of her. In response, she pursed her lips and turned her head away.

"I-I think I better get going," Ashley said, getting up and adjusting her jacket.

Sam nodded as she agreed, "Yeah, that's fine. I understand. I just hope that you start feeling better, okay?"

Ashley looked at Sam, into those eyes... she wished that she didn't always want to look into those eyes. Those eyes were what compelled her to even THINK about kissing Sam. Of that, Ashley was almost 100% certain. She forced herself to break away from them as she nodded in reply. With that, the two of them said their goodbyes and Ashley was on her way back to Chris.

She never should have left.

\----------

After maybe three months, Ashley finally understood what Sam had meant when she said that about how she and Chris were connected through the losses of Beth and Josh.

She got a call from Chris's phone in the late afternoon. She was ecstatic. She couldn't believe that finally, after all that time, she was going to hear his voice again. She had so many questions for him.

"Hello? Chris? Is that you?" she asked, hopefully.

There was a second of silence from the other end of the line before she got any form of reply. "Yeah, Ash, it's Chris. It's me." He sounded the same, but he also sounded tired, and almost on the verge of tears. "I-I have to talk to you. It's really... important."

"Okay, that's fine! I'm just glad that you called! Where the hell have you even BEEN? It's been like four months since I last saw you!"

He gulped a little. "Uh, that's what I need to talk to you about... see... I went back. I-I-I had to. I couldn't just sit there while Josh was up in the mountains stuck in the mines waiting for a fate worse than death... Ash, I..."

She waited for him to speak again, both excited and fearful for the rest of his sentence.

"I-I love him. I always have, I just... I didn't know it. And, believe me when I say this, I loved you a lot. I loved you so much, for so long... and I hate having to tell you this, but... after I heard what Sam said about him, I had to go back and see if there was any way I could save him. And, i-it turns out that he wasn't full wendigo yet. He had held out for that long. From what the old man taught me, I managed to get through the mountain and save him. And so I got myself and Josh out."

Ashley couldn't move. She hadn't expected this from Chris. Her heart felt like someone had grabbed it and twisted it in their hands. She was still silent as Chris continued with his explanation.

"I just... I knew right then that I had always loved him. I love him so much, Ash. So, me and Josh have been working with cops and we've been doing our best to get them to search in the mines and on the mountain more. And his scars... he still has scars from half of his mouth from when he almost went full wendigo, a-a-and so I've been watching over him to make sure the spirit doesn't take him over. I've been taking care of him while the doctors and other science-y people have been working to try and get him back from his transformation. And so that's where I've been. I'm so sorry for not calling you earlier, I was just focused on trying to get everything back to normal."

"Chris," Ashley began, with a sob heaving in her chest, "I understand. It's fine. You could have told me this."

He took in a deep breath. "I know. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do that to you."

She shook her head a little. "I suppose I should tell you something important, too." With evident shakiness in her voice, she breathed in and out before continuing. "I kissed Sam."

"You did?" he asked, his tone unchanged from earlier. "When did that happen?" There was a little bit of a chuckle on the other end of the line.

Ashley breathed out a sigh of relief. She was so glad that he wasn't upset with her. "Uh, it happened the night that you left. I was lonely and scared, and I freaked out... So I just... it happened and I regret it."

"Well, do you know that Sam's actually... Sam has a thing for girls. She always has. I've known since she told me in Junior High."

She felt the air in her lungs deflate almost immediately. "Are you serious? Oh my gosh, I had no idea, and now I led her on, and... I hope she's not mad at me. I really screwed up, Chris, oh my gosh..."

Chris did his best to try and reassure her. "Hey, hey, calm down. I'm sure Sam isn't mad at you. She understands that things happen, and that you were lonely, and that there are some things in life you can't control, right? It'll be okay. I promise."

"Wait... is that what Sam meant when she said that she lost Beth and you had lost Josh? Oh my gosh, was she in love with Beth?"

Chris let out a deep breath, then pausing to take in another as he answered, "Yeah, Sam had always been in love with Beth. And when that happened last year, she was almost too upset to mourn. She was in denial about what had happened for about three months. It took her a long time before she could even go through the next stages of grief. Josh was kind of her support during that time. He told her about everything, and she told him. They were good friends. They helped each other, I think."

"I... I had no idea..."

"Don't be upset, Ash. Almost nobody did. Only me, Josh, and Hannah. And Beth. She and Beth had gotten together the summer before everything happened. But you had no way of knowing. I had been planning on telling you, but Sam decided that she wanted to tell you herself. She figured that she should be the one to break the news."

Ashley closed her eyes. How had she been so dumb? Sam and Beth had been very affectionate towards each other, even when they were just friends. They were the kind that were always comfortable around each other, like... close enough to be able to take off their clothes in front of the other and not feel awkward at all. Maybe it was because they both loved each other. And then that summer, she had always chalked up their silly flirty comments to each other as them just joking around. But she had definitely noticed it.

She groaned as she remembered. "I knew that there was SOMEthing going on between those two. I wish I would've figured it out sooner. I'm the type that's oblivious to everything, I suppose."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment before Chris said, bluntly, "Yeah, because you never noticed Sam falling in love with YOU."

That felt like a tug on Ashley's heartstrings. "What... what do you mean?"

"Come on, Ash. It was pretty obvious. She even figured out that she liked girls because of her crush on you. She's had it ever since Junior High. And, yeah, she really did love Beth, but you were always her first choice. Always. The reason things were always awkward between you two was because she was trying to hide her crush. I had always told her that she should've just said something to you, because I know that you would've understood, but she always gave me excuses not to."

Ashley felt a bit strange. "C-Chris, thank you for telling me everything, now... I've gotta go. I need to make things right with Sam."

"No problem. Call me once you get things sorted out with her, okay? I care about you still, Ash. I always have and I always will."

She nodded, but soon remembered that Chris couldn't actually see her. "I will, I promise. Tell Josh I said hi, and come back sometime! I'd love to get to see him again, and I'm sure everyone else would, too."

"I will. Now go! Make amends!"

She smirked and said her goodbyes before hanging up and grabbing her car keys.

\----------

Sam answered the door very diligently. "Ash? Uh, hey, I wasn't expecting you, c-"

"Sorry, I should've called to tell you I was coming. I just got a call from Chris and I have to explain everything to you."

So Sam invited her in and she told her everything. Chris and Josh, finding out about Sam's sexuality, and the stunning and scary realization that she had actually been harboring feelings for her the entire time.

Yes, it was true, Ashley had always secretly had a tiny crush on Sam as well. It started out young, and Ashley was unsure of whether or not it was a crush, because she had never really even felt anything like it before. But from the symptoms, she figured it was about as close as she had ever gotten. Butterflies in the stomach, the nervous blush she got whenever she stepped near her, and thinking about Sam at almost every twist and turn were clear indicators that there was something going on.

And it had never really gone away, even when she had begun to develop a crush on Chris.

"Oh my God, really?" Sam asked, in a stunned whisper. "I can't believe it. And all this time, I knew... I should've been more clear in telling you. It was my fault. It was really vague. I should've just told you that Chris and Josh had feelings for each other."

Ashley shook her head. "It's totally fine. I would've probably figured it out at some point anyway. Don't worry about it. I should've come clean about how I felt about you when I was younger anyway, too. Sometimes we forget things. It doesn't matter, because I know everything now."

Sam shrugged. "I still should've told you. And I promise that I was planning on telling you about Beth and me, and I was going to tell you about the little schoolgirl crush I had on you, too."

"That's why I kissed you. I was scared, and I still had that in mind, and... Sam, I think I still might like you."

Sam's eyes went wide.

"See, it's the eyes. Your eyes are amazing. I think those eyes are the best thing about you. And I think that's what compelled me to you. So... this isn't exactly what I planned, but... if you don't mind, I was kind of hoping that maybe we would see where all of this leads?"

She looked a bit confused, but soon grew out of her scared look, and that was when Ashley put a hand on her face. "C-Can I?" she asked, waiting for any sort of signal from Sam.

The answer was a nod.

And Ashley didn't care what exactly the nod was referring to, but she knew that it was a start.


End file.
